Multilevel governance and the decarbonisation of transportation: towards a research agenda

Comparative research from political scientists on how multilevel governance affects the decarbonisation of transportation is rare. Transportation policy has gained new strategic importance in a changing geoeconomic context, but the transport sector has been particularly resistant to change. Considering that transportation markets and infrastructures that shape mobility patterns cut across territorial jurisdictions, the mobility transition constitutes a profound challenge for multilevel governance. Using illustrative evidence from Canada and Germany, this article develops a research agenda intended to stimulate more engagement among political scientists with this important, but largely neglected field. First, I situate the decarbonisation of transportation within existing research on multilevel governance and climate policy. Second, I explain how the mobility transition has gained new salience for governments on different scales in recent years. Third, building on a society-centred approach to multilevel governance, I discuss how path dependencies and politicisation represent obstacles for incentivising a shift towards low-carbon mobility in a multilevel setting. Fourth, I then adopt an institutional approach to multilevel governance and develop theoretical expectations about how the allocation of authority variously affects policy innovation and policy consolidation to promote the mobility transition.